Third-order robust fuzzy sliding mode tracking control of a double-acting electrohydraulic actuator

Abstract

In the industrial sector, an electrohydraulic actuator (EHA) system is a common technology. This system is often used in applications that demand high force, such as the steel, automotive, and aerospace industries. Furthermore, since most mechanical actuators' performance changes with time, it is considerably more difficult to assure its robustness over time. Therefore, this paper proposed a robust fuzzy sliding mode proportional derivative (FSMCPD) controller. The sliding mode controller (SMC) is accomplished by utilizing the exponential law and the Lyapunov theorem to ensure closed loop stability. By replacing the fuzzy logic control (FLC) function over the signum function, the chattering in the SMC controller has been considerably reduced. By using the sum of absolute errors as the objective function, particle swarm optimization (PSO) was used to optimize the controller parameter gain. The experiment results for trajectory tracking and the robustness test were compared with the sliding mode proportional derivative (SMCPD) controller to demonstrate the performance of the FSMCPD controller. According to the findings of the thorough study, the FSMCPD controller outperforms the SMCPD controller in terms of mean square error (MSE) and robustness index (RI).